SGG Group emerges as IQ-EQ in global rebranding exercise

SGG Group, the global investor services group which has over the past two years acquired five leading industry companies to achieve its global growth ambitions, has decided to launch a new name, visual identity and corporate website to become IQ-EQ

The rebranding comes at the end of an almost 9-month comprehensive review of all its acquired brands, namely: SGG, First Names Group, Augentius, Iyer Practice and Viacert. The company started the process in mid-2018, during which it spent time to talk to people inside the business, clients and key contacts.

Mark Pesco, Group CEO, commented: “For us, this exercise was not just a simple case of changing the name above the door and applying a new lick of paint. This was a root and branch exercise to come up with a new brand, visual identity and company culture that resonated with all of our stakeholders.” The result was a number of mandatory deliverables to stakeholders, said Pesco: “It needed to be: bold – distinctive – disruptive – real – honest and credible. It needed to answer the needs of our clients. It needed to be something which captured what our clients needed from us and something that allowed us to be true to who we are as a business. It needed to be transparent, the same on the inside as it was on the outside.” As it looks to replace five strong existing brands with a totally new one, Pesco does not think that it has in anyway impacted its ability to leverage the strengths and reputations of those five brands.

“In this new world, you have to be big and global, with robust and efficient processes. But clients also want to feel important and not just a cog in a very big wheel. Service has to be attentive and truly personal. That’s how the long-term client relationships that are essential to success are formed, and that’s why we decided to build a new global brand. IQ-EQ is a brand that combines our technical skills with an unwavering focus on client services,” he explained.

He disclosed that as a result of the acquisitions made in 2018, the company ended up with a number of strong brands that were in fact quite separate and were working at a slight disconnect to each other. He acknowledged that the power of the brands and the people working within them is most visible when they can successfully leverage off each other’s’ core strengths and expertise. By bringing these businesses together under one new brand it will act as a unifier and allow strong bonds to form between them.

On the rationale behind the name “IQ-EQ”, Pasco explained: “Right from the start, the theme of intellectual and emotional intelligence consistently came from everyone we spoke to. There was a commonality in both our thinking and what we wanted to deliver to our clients. The foundation for the brand and what it’s all about was already there the process we went through effectively helped bring this thinking to the surface. I think that’s why it has been received so well within the business because it resonates with our people. They get it. It feels real to them and not just a cosmetic makeover.” The new brand was launched on 25th March 2019 with a comprehensive new suite of marketing materials, a completely new website and all new social channels. Clients and key contacts were made aware of the plans before they went live, although the new brand name itself was kept a secret until the day of launch.